Thinking

Critical thinking should start early when we start making decisions and start using information to make those decisions.

Technique to employ:

As a teacher, it is good to "think out loud" to model what is going on in your head as you come across a new problem or situation. Have students write down three essential questions that they hear as you share what you're thinking. It is a good start to helping students learn to ask themselves good questions and giving them permission to make mistakes, learn from them, be creative about how to think "outside the box", and continue with the "problem".

Resources for helping students with critical thinking

1. Critical thinking model and principles: http://www.antiochne.edu/acsr/criticalskills/
2. Neil deGrasse Tyson: Want Scientifically Literate Children? Get Out of Their Way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIEJjpVlZu0
3. List of Fallacies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
4. Bad Graphs: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1859486@N25/

Scaffolding information to help students learn and think critically

1. eMINTS Tech Travelers has three types of scaffolding to investigate as well as tech tools to help! - http://dperkins.weebly.com/scaffolding.html
2. 6 scaffolding strategies to use with your students: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber